The FreeBSD Security Officer would normally be sending out this email, but he's a bit busy right now and it is clear from reactions to FreeBSD Security Advisory FreeBSD-SA-04:04.tcp that many people are unaware of the current status of the RELENG_5_1 branch, so I'm going to send out this reminder myself. The branches supported by the FreeBSD Security Officer have been updated to reflect the recent EoL (end-of-life) of FreeBSD 5.1. The new list is below and at <URL: http://www.freebsd.org/security/ >. If you are running FreeBSD 4.7 or older, or FreeBSD 5.0 or 5.1, and you wish to be certain to get critical bug fixes, it is recommended that you upgrade to one of the newer security branches. [Excerpt from http://www.freebsd.org/security/] FreeBSD Security Advisories The FreeBSD Security Officer provides security advisories for several branches of FreeBSD development. These are the -STABLE Branches and the Security Branches. (Advisories are not issued for the -CURRENT Branch.) * There is usually only a single -STABLE branch, although during the transition from one major development line to another (such as from FreeBSD 4.x to 5.x), there is a time span in which there are two -STABLE branches. The -STABLE branch tags have names like RELENG_4. The corresponding builds have names like FreeBSD 4.6-STABLE. * Each FreeBSD Release has an associated Security Branch. The Security Branch tags have names like RELENG_4_6. The corresponding builds have names like FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE-p7. Each branch is supported by the Security Officer for a limited time only, typically through 12 months after the release. The estimated lifetimes of the currently supported branches are given below. The Estimated EoL (end-of-life) column gives the earliest date on which that branch is likely to be dropped. Please note that these dates may be extended into the future, but only extenuating circumstances would lead to a branch's support being dropped earlier than the date listed. +------------------------------------------+ | Branch | Release | Estimated EoL | |----------+-------------+-----------------| |RELENG_4 |n/a |October 31, 2004 | |----------+-------------+-----------------| |RELENG_4_8|4.8-RELEASE |March 31, 2004 | |----------+-------------+-----------------| |RELENG_4_9|4.9-RELEASE |October 31, 2004 | |----------+-------------+-----------------| |RELENG_5_2|5.2.1-RELEASE|July 31, 2004 | +------------------------------------------+ Older releases are not maintained and users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to one of the supported releases mentioned above. Colin Percival (wearing member-of-secteam hat) _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-security To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[email protected]"